Woodland Elementary students Owen Douglas, Mason Klemm, Grace Marshalek and Sophie Tharp won first place in the Junior Team Global Issues Problem Solving Division of the State Future Problem Solvers competition. They will advance to the international competition in Ames, Iowa in June. This is only the second year the school has had a Future Problem Solvers team.

“This group of students has worked hard to learn the six steps of the Future Problem Solving process for the past two years,” said 5th grade teacher Sandy Otto, who leads the team. “They devoted time outside of class to research our future topics.”

This year, the team’s topics have included surveillance societies, land transportation, and for the International Competition: space. The team started the year with eleven 6th graders, eight of which qualified for the state competition.

“The four who received 1st place recognition out of 35 teams from across the state of Minnesota are thrilled to compete against FPS teams from all over the world at Iowa State University in June,” said Otto. “I couldn’t be more proud of these students and their hard work!”

“It has been Sandy’s strong leadership that has provided the resources, information, inspiration, and support for our FPS teams. To be moving on to the international competition is a terrific accomplishment for the scholars and acknowledgement of Sandy’s great work. The team is a true example of Woodland scholars SOARing to college and career readiness!”